Toyota lock out the front row in China Qualifying

Craig Robertson

17 November 2018

Toyota continue their dominance in LMP1, locking out the front row in qualifying for the FIA WEC 6 Hours of Shanghai.

Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi took pole position with an average time of 1:42.931 with the championship leading #8 car of Fernando Alonso and Kazuki Nakajima just 0.228 seconds behind. During the first half of qualifying, Bruno Senna split the Toyotas going quicker than Fernando Alonso. Nakajima fought back in the second session though to best Andre Lotterer by just three tenths of a second. The resulting average times meant that the #1 Rebellion took third, losing out on second place by six hundredths of a second! The #17 SMP Racing took fourth with the #3 Rebellion rounding out the top five.

In LMP2, Jackie Chan DC Racing took a 1-2 front row lock out for their home event. Ho Pin Tung and Gabriel Aubrey posting an average time of 1:48.888 around the Shanghai circuit. The #37, which took the win in Fuji averaged a time of 1:49.138 – three thents off pole position. With the #38 scoring a point for pole position in class, they are now on equal points with Signatech Alpine for the lead of the championship. Alpine will start fourth in class behind the DragonSpeed Oreca on the second row.

In GTE-Pro, Stefan Mucke and Olvier Pla took Ford’s third pole of the season after a close fight with BMW Team MTEK. BMW were on for a 1-2 finish in qualifying before Mucke put the 66 Ford top of the time sheets with a time of 1:58.464. The #81 BMW M8 GTE of Martin Tomczyk and Nicky Catsburg will start second with the #82 car in fifth. The #97 Aston Martin and #92 Porsche dropped the BMW down the order, setting fast times late in the session.

A last-ditch lap from Pedro Lamy saw the #98 Aston snatch pole position in GTE-Am ahead of the #88 Dempsey Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR. The #54 Spirit of Race Ferrari will start in third.

Tomorrows race looks set to be a wet one and gets under way at 11Am local time.